The ex wife has got in touch with me as she wants a new bike. Which quite frankly serves her right for not taking my advice a year ago and buying one from Halfords.

So being a nice chap I said I'd help her, however her budgets are a bit short for buying new so I'm looking for good second hand. Obviously going dwn that route severely lessens the chance of finding a female geometry frame.

So what companies do frames with a short top tube length? The reason being that she has very long legs for her height and my bikes feel like a stretch for her in terms of reach though they fit me perfectly.

A few of her mug pals are telling her she needs a large male frame because of her height but now I've explained to her why that wouldn't really work she's kind of put the onus on me to make suggestions.

I've posted this in off topic as well but suddenly realised it makes more sense here.

One important factor is what is she going to use it for ?
Is she going to ride off road and how extreme a level of offroad if she is ?
If trails no tougher than blue grade from a Glentress point of view are to be the extreme then any of the classic womens step through mtb frames would be fine. They all have shorter virtual top tubes than the so called unisex ie male frame geometry. Many are now available in aluminium alloy with in some cases disc mounts such as you would find on ebay.
If the classic diamond frame is required then most of the big US and Taiwanese companies have women specificdesigns, TREK being one of the first on the bandwaggon as well as Spesh or Dale

She'll use it as a commuter with occasional off road trips, nothing too hardcore but she want's something she can rely on. And she isn't a good enough cyclist for hardcore stuff anyway. She is however very fit as she is a bit of a gym bunny and fitness freak. Diamond frame only though. Eck has pointed me in the direction of something decent that may suit her.

They all have shorter virtual top tubes than the so called unisex ie male frame geometry.

I think you'll find WSD frames have longer top tubes than the traditional NORBA geometry "men's" frame. I have short legs, and like a smaller frame with a longish top tube. I used to ride my ex's old 8800 WSD on occasion (usually after I fixed it) and it was long and low how I like.

I bow to your experience but surely thats against the anatomical facts. Women for a given height in comparison to men have longer legs and shorter torso's. Thus unless they are the stereotypical neanderthal with knuckles trailing the ground women would find a longer top tube a major stretch. i think your wrong but not having a WSD bike and a similar male bike at hand I cant prove it

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